Grants

History

Significant Events in STFM History

October 27, 1967 – First organizational meeting, New York City. Forty-five educators gathered at the New York Hilton to discuss the feasibility of developing a new organization related to the teaching of family medicine.

February 9, 1968 – Second organizational meeting, Chicago.

November 1, 1968 – Third organizational meeting, Houston. Bylaws were adopted; Lynn Carmichael elected founding president. The Society had 105 Charter members, an income of $505, and $64 in expenses.

February 8, 1969 – Fourth organizational meeting, Chicago, on the date that family practice was approved as the twentieth medical specialty. A full slate of founding officers was approved.

Summer 1969 – Family Medicine Times established with Silas Grant as founding editor.

November 1, 1970 – STFM logo was approved and registered as the official trademark of the Society.

April 11, 1971 – STFM received tax-exempt status.

February 5, 1972 – STFM was admitted to membership in the Council of Academic Societies (CAS). F. Marian Bishop and Lynn Carmichael were the first CAS representatives.

September 1972 – Office centralization became a priority, and the STFM offices moved to Kansas City. Tom Johnson, Director of the AAFP Division of Education, agreed to serve as Administrative Officer for the Society.

June 1973 – Robert Graham, Assistant Director of the AAFP Division of Education, was asked to serve as the Administrative Officer for the Society upon the retirement of Tom Johnson.

February 1974 – Articles of incorporation and new bylaws were adopted.

June 18-20, 1974 – The first Predoctoral Education Conference was held in Kansas City. At the time, it was called the First Annual Workshop on Undergraduate Education.

February 1975 – Bylaws were changed to establish the president-elect system of tenure.

May 12-14, 1975 – STFM held its first Predoctoral Education Conference in Kansas City.

June 23, 1975 – STFM Foundation incorporated as the charitable arm of STFM. G. Gayle Stephens was the founding president.

September 1975 – Residency Assistance Program (RAP) was implemented in conjunction with other family medicine organizations.

September 1, 1975 – Patricia Plhak was hired as the first Executive Director, serving in that capacity until June 1978.

April 2-4, 1976 – First stand-alone STFM annual meeting, New Orleans. This ended the practice of holding sessions in conjunction with the AMA Congress on Medical Education.

1977 – The “Working Party,” representing the family practice organizations, was established with STFM as a founding member.

February 1977 – Board of Directors structure was changed to include a resident representative, with Joseph Scherger as the first resident in that position.

January 1979 – A monthly journal, Family Medicine Teacher, was established with Lynn Carmichael as founding editor.

1980 – The STFM/Pan American Federation of Associations of Medical Schools (PAFAMS) Faculty Fellowship Program was established with Edward J. Shahady as the Project Director.

1980 – STFM accepted membership in the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies, and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) with F. Marian Bishop as the first STFM representative.

1980-1981 – The first printed annual report was published.

January 1981 – The STFM journal name was changed to Family Medicine.

February 1981 – The first meeting of the Family in Family Medicine Conference was held in Kansas City. The name changed to the Conference on Families and Health in 1999. The last conference was held in 2008.

May 1981 – F. Marian Bishop, President, introduced the concept of task forces and working groups.

June 1981 – Roger A. Sherwood was hired as STFM Executive Director.

January 1, 1985 – John Frey was appointed the second editor of Family Medicine.

1986 – A position for a student representative was added to the Board of Directors with Rachel Larussa the first to serve in that position.

September 1986 – The North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) joined STFM as a cosponsor of Family Medicine.

March 5, 1987 – Family Medicine was accepted into Index Medicus.

1990 – Curricular Guidelines for a Third-Year Family Medicine Clerkship were developed and distributed to the deans of all U.S. medical schools. Kent Sheets was Chair of the group.

April 17, 1990 – The organizational meeting of the Academic Family Medicine Organizations (AFMO) was held in Chicago with representatives from STFM: Alan David, (chair) and Roger Sherwood.

1991 – STFM began to provide management support to the Association of Departments of Family Medicine. Priscilla Noland was named its first administrative director.

November 1991 – The Academic Family Medicine Steering Committee was formed.

1992 – STFM celebrated its 25th anniversary.

January 1992 – Barry Weiss was appointed the third editor of Family Medicine.

January 1992 – Family medicine organizations collaboratively opened a legislative office in Washington, DC.

February 1996 – STFM established a presence on the Internet with the launch of its website.

July 1996 – STFM signed an agreement to provide management services for the North American Primary Care Research Group. Marcia Neu served as NAPCRG’s first administrative director.

July 2000 – The Bishop Fellowship Program was inaugurated to prepare senior family medicine faculty to assume positions of greater responsibility in academic medicine and health care leadership. The program ended in June 2016.

January 2001 – STFM became one of six partners in the creation of the Annals of Family Medicine.

January 2002 – STFM partnered with the seven organizations of the “family of family medicine” to initiate the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) Project to develop a strategy to transform and renew the specialty to meet the needs of people and society in a changing environment. Project recommendations were published in a special supplement of the March-April 2004 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

April 2003 – The Annual Spring Conference was postponed to Fall 2004 at a different venue because of concerns over an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto.

September 2004 – STFM became a cosponsor of the Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine with the Medical College of Wisconsin.

April 2005 – The Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (the STFM Resource Library) launched at fmdrl.org. This service provides peer-reviewed educational materials, works-in-progress, and conference materials for individuals at all levels of family medicine education.

November 2006 – Conference on Patient Education became the Conference on Practice Improvement.

January 2007 – STFM launched its Medical Student Educators Development Institute, a year-long comprehensive faculty development program for those who educate medical students, particularly those who aspire to be clerkship directors or medical student education directors.

April 2007 – STFM Foundation created the Group Project Fund to support efforts of STFM groups.

August 2007 – STFM Board approved the STFM Core Values: Integrity, Relationship-centered, Openness, Nurturing, Excellence, Learning. Although Diversity was intended to be implied in the core value of Openness, the word Diversity was explicitly listed as a core value in 2011.

October 31, 2007 – Roger Sherwood, CAE, retired as STFM's Executive Director after 26 years of service. Stacy Brungardt, CAE, became the new Executive Director.

January 2008 – The STFM Board approved STFM Core Purpose: “Advancing family medicine to improve health through a community of teachers and scholars.” While the word “purpose” evolved in future years to become mission, this statement remains unchanged since it was approved in 2008.

January 2008 – STFM, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, and the North American Primary Care Research Group officially launched the Council of Academic Family Medicine as a new way of working together, coordinating activities where there is overlap, and acting on strategic initiatives that support academic family medicine.

August 2009 – The family of family medicine approved the Family Medicine Clerkship Curriculum. This curriculum is a list of common and important presentations that all medical students should experience during their third year family medicine clerkship. STFM was the lead in this CAFM initiative, and the STFM Foundation was the financial sponsor.

November 2009 – Outcomes from the retreat of the STFM Foundation Trustees included a revised mission, “to grow the capacity of STFM to support its mission and goals” as well as an affirmation to create greater alignment between the priorities of the Foundation and STFM.

January 2010 – The STFM Board approved the decision to use the term medical student education in place of predoctoral. The Predoctoral Education Conference changed its name to the Conference on Medical Student Education as of the 2011 conference.

July 2010 – The STFM Group on Oral Health launched its third edition of the Smiles for Life oral health curriculum, which is designed to enhance the role of primary care clinicians in the promotion of oral health for all age groups.

March 2010 – John Saultz was appointed as the fourth editor of Family Medicine.

July 2010 – fmCASES launched with 29 completed and peer-reviewed cases. STFM partnered with iIntime, now MedU, to develop virtual patient cases designed to teach the family medicine core clerkship curriculum to medical students during their family medicine clerkship.

January 2011 – Family Medicine Journal launched a redesigned format. The following year the journal won an EXCEL Award from Association Media and Publishing for Most Improved Journal.

Spring 2011 – STFM launched the Emerging Leaders Fellowship, which offers training, tools and support for new faculty and those transitioning or new to leadership roles.

May 2011 – STFM Behavioral Science/Family Systems Educator Fellowship was launched as a yearlong fellowship for new family medicine faculty who have responsibility for coordinating the behavioral science/family systems curriculum.

July 2011 – CAFM Educational Resource Alliance, CERA, was launched as a framework to focus and support medical education research. CAFM is staffed by STFM and cosponsored by the other CAFM organizations.

Fall 2011 – STFM initiated a formal program process to assess its programs and activities. The process has evolved significantly and continues to serve as an important mechanism for examining programs for relevance and their ability to meet member needs.

April 2012 – STFM unveiled a new logo for the Society. Prior to its introduction, STFM members were given an opportunity to vote and provide input. According to then STFM President Jerry Kruse, “The logo was changed to reflect the innovation and influence of STFM.”

January 2013 – The Society underwent a robust governance assessment process. Outcomes from this assessment included the creation of STFM governance principles, and adjustment of terms of CFAS representative and STFM treasurer, a move to greater transparency in its structure, and a move from a contested to uncontested elections.

April 2013 – STFM, in conjunction with AFMRD, launched the Family Medicine Residency Curriculum Resource with topic lists and recommended readings. In March of 2015, the site added curriculum that included peer-reviewed case-based presentations, quizzes, and facilitator’s guides.

January 2014 – STFM held its first uncontested election. Mary Hall was the first president voted in by the membership through this single candidate system.

October 2014 – STFM, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, the North American Primary Care Research Group, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians officially launched the Family Medicine for America’s Health initiative. The initiative is a 5-year effort to demonstrate the value of primary care in delivering on the Triple Aim of better health, better care, and lower costs. Health Is Primary, the communications component of this effort is a campaign to advocate for the values of family medicine, demonstrate the benefits of primary care, and engage patients in the health care system. STFM pledged $1 million to this effort.

November 2014 – As part of its strategic plan discussions, STFM examined its mission, vision, core values and tagline. The Board agreed that the Mission, Vision, and Tagline would remain the same. Minor changes in the STFM Values included removing “Learning” and changing “Relationship-Centered” to “Relationships”. The core values are now diversity, integrity, relationships, openness, nurturing, and excellence.

April 2015 – STFM Foundation launched a 2-year campaign to fund a special initiative called Faculty for Tomorrow. This initiative was designed to assist in the recruitment and retention of family medicine faculty.

December 2015 – STFM launched a Leading Change Fellowship, a yearlong fellowship offering interprofessional team skill-building and resources to enable transformation of a family medicine teaching practice. Michael Mendoza and Jennifer Johnson serve as the first interprofessional cochairs of the fellowship.

April 2016 – STFM Board approved a restructure plan for its Groups to three different types: Collaboratives, Special Project Teams, and Discussion Forums.

May 2016 – The STFM Foundation changed its mission to “promote and develop support for STFM and its mission and goals”.